Original G1 Tie in products are the “New” Transformers figures in the collector world? Why?
Because serious collectors already have the figures, and through Hasbro and third-party companies continue to push more product every day. collectors want something more unique to add to their onslaught of shelf warriors, and frankly, that original box art just looks too cool not to display.
Enter the 1985 Transformers Slumber tent. This is actually a really rare piece. In the myriad of original Transformers, this is often confused with the bed tent, though there are a lot of differences. For starters, oddly enough, they were offered from 2 different manufactures. The bed tent is designed to sit directly over a twin sized mattress and has supports like an outdoor tent and is made of cloth. The slumber tent has a plastic support frame akin to that of a mobile car pot, with a vinyl shell that goes over it. Measuring 50 inches long and too wide for a mattress, it would not serve well as a bed tent.
Transformers Bed Tent Poles
In case you were wondering if yours is complete, here is the parts list:
10 23 1/2 inch straight poles.
4 “y” connectors.
3 “x” connectors.
6 27 inch curved poles.
8 “T” connectors.
10 straight 16 1/2 poles.
2 small connectors.
1 vinyl shell.
Assembling the plastic frame is fairly easy, however, if you manage to find one of these and want to assemble it, beware of plastic degradation, as one push, twist or pull and you could possibly break the plastic tubes or connectors. The vinyl cover is adorned with the season 1 box art and it really pops out at this scale. However, unlike the cloth of the bed tent, the slumber tent would have a much smaller tolerance to roughhousing inside or around it as it has about the vinyl same consistency as those vinyl costumes of the same time period. Once assembled, even with as mint as this one is, you could easily tell where the wear points would be on one that was more used. To begin with, no matter what direction you put the shell over the frame there are pieces of the frame that you have to crawl over to enter and exit the tent. Kids crawling in and out could easily damage that part of the frame. The vinyl shell would be susceptible to fading, scratching, stretching and since it’s the 80s.. Cigarette smoke damage. Finally, the frame sits with its weight mostly on the yellow connectors and those could wear to the point of not connecting anymore as well.
This example is minus most of the wear a used one would present. I can’t begin to describe to you how factory fresh this piece is. It still smells new! The condition and coloring is great, as its only missing the rear plastic window. Storing the slumber tent can be problematic, however. This is one of those pieces whose parts have to go back into the box exactly the same way it would have gone in at the factory and trying to force anything in there the wrong way can result in damage to the box and or the vinyl shell. Personally, I will be storing the vinyl shell in the box and displaying the box behind glass and the plastic tubing in a separate box in storage.
Valuing the slumber tent is a difficult task. There are some pretty rare offerings when it comes to the G1 tie in stuff that don’t ever come up for sale so simply looking up recently sold on eBay doesn’t do the trick. With it rarely coming around for sale, it really comes down to what a collector is willing to pay. Yes, it is rare but put together it obviously takes up a ton of space, and even the box is large enough it can be a challenge to display. Personally, I gave around 225 for it, but got it discounted as I was buying it along with a bunch of other stuff in bulk. However, an educated an educated guess would be between $400 to $500 sealed. $200-$350 in the shape like mine and $50-$100 for an incomplete one or a basket case. Take these prices with a grain of salt as the seller I got it from also had a nice Transformers punching bag in box but wanted a hefty $400 for it.
Did you have this as a kid? Or did you know someone who did? See the entire video on the slumber tent on Toywarp Vintage Reviews on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/W_mD69n6hMg?si=Plf4vmLjr9r6RZ1c